The Lego Lord of the Rings game arrived at the sweet-spot in the Lego franchise where features like an explorable world-map had arrived - and it's a pleasure to explore Middle Earth in Lego form - but the series hadn't yet succumbed to the bloat that came later with hundreds of barely-distinguishable characters, aggravating gimmicks, and excessive DLC. It also has the advantage, unlike Lego The Hobbit, of having been released when the film trilogy it's based on was over. So it covers the entire story from start to finish and doesn't just end abruptly without a final third like The Hobbit game did. The only downside to be aware of (imho) is that the PC version never received the modest number of DLC packs (4) that other versions did. Which is a shame because some of them were quite entertaining, adding some fun playable characters and items that LOTR fans will appreciate. But, on the bright side, at least they were only additional characters and items, not whole playable levels or anything more substantial. So, you should probably check what the DLC and decide whether you're always going to feel like something's missing if your game doesn't include "important" playable characters like Glorfindel, Farmer Maggot, Barrow Wight, etc., and whether never being able to wield Narya, Vilya, Nenya, or a Morgul blade is something you can live with. If it is, then have at it.
If you imagine a game like Commandos - real-time missions in defined locations with a small squad of characters, each with their own roles and aptitudes - except you're "beaming down" to various Star Trek locations then that's essentially what this game is. It's one of those occasions where the game's genre is a solid and natural fit for the source material, and the license palpably improves the experience: "beaming down" allows for a wider variety of locations than you usually see in games of this type, and familiarity with Star Trek means you probably already have a basic understanding of what the various alien races are capable of, what the various squad roles are, what the equipment can do, etc. Phasers can be set to stun, kill, etc. See, you already knew that :) It was never the flashiest or most high-profile Star Trek game, but if you like the idea of it then you'll find it a solid and enjoyable experience.
Can't say I'm impressed with Raiden Legacy. If you have access to a US/JP Xbox 360 then you're FAR better off getting "Raiden Fighters Aces" for that machine. It's the same set of games, minus "Raiden." This PC version, as it stands, has many problems: * The emulation is poor, with frequent "hitches" marring gameplay. The 360 version is near-perfect, even (optionally) emulating the coin-op's unusual 54fps refresh. * The 360 version supports gameplay recording upload and download. It's instructive to see how the world's best achieved their scores. * The game doesn't seem to save local high-scores, let alone offer the 360 version's online leaderboards. Shoot 'em ups are all about score, so a shoot 'em up that doesn't remember your scores is arguably a pointless thing, period. * Auto-fire just fires CONSTANTLY instead of only auto-firing when you hold the button down. Odd choice. * The interface is badly thought-out, i.e. if you play on keyboard and pause the game, you have to use the mouse to resume playing. As you can imagine, by the time you have your hand back on the keyboard you're already dead! And the game doesn't even hide the mouse pointer while you're playing. When PC gamers have the option of playing these games for free via MAME, the developer really needed to go the extra mile to make this an attractive purchase.
